World Submerged
by rest for the wicked
Summary: After their respective bands both get a shot at the biggest battle of the bands in the world, Haruka and Michiru are forced to choose between their love and the love of music. Will they give up their dreams to be together, letting down their friends in the process, or will they ignore their feelings for each other to make it big?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Causing Earthquakes**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Sailor Moon or any of its characters and concepts. The plot is as original as material can be in this day and age.

"Alright everybody, our set kicks off in two! I don't need to tell you that this could be our big break. If we make a big enough wave here then we'll be set for the Battle coming up next year."

"You think they're gonna make it, Ami?" the smaller of the two girls asked while absentmindedly twirling a drum stick in her left hand.

"I'm sure we'll outperform them with little trouble, Hotaru." She answered with a kind smile. The timid exchange could be considered out of place in the grungy cellar-turned-club located somewhere downtown. The two young women continued to look on from backstage as the band going on before them prepared to take the stage. After being introduced to the slightly hostile crowd, the upstart group began their set. Theirs was a whitewashed version of any other angst-riddled rock music that ever came out of a big city and they were received as such as the audience practically booed them offstage before they could even make it to the third song of their lineup.

"Looks like we'll be going on sooner than planned, ladies." A husky voice sounded from behind them. The quite guitarist and drummer turned to see the remainder of their four-piece approaching them casually. Not a care in the world showed on the groups tallest and eldest's face, a blonde by the name of Haruka Tenoh. Despite not being the front man, it was clear that she had the biggest following among their fans; wearing just a pair of slim fitted, pale blue jeans, a white sleeveless shirt accented with black converse and a studded leather bracelet, the athletic and androgynously built keyboardist was the one who always managed to work the crowd into a frenzy before they even got halfway through their first song whenever they took the stage.

"Are you guys set for tonight?" Makoto, the bands bassist and singer, asked leisurely. Dressed similarly to her tall counterpart, save for her fitted black t-shirt and charm bracelet with varying sized guitar picks dangling from it, the brunette placed her arms over Hotaru and Ami's shoulders and turned them to where their instruments were being guarded by their acting-manager. One couldn't be too careful when it came to one's instruments, and after a few attempts at sabotage from other groups that had to be dealt with by the level headed mediator, Setsuna had taken a more active role as gear guard whenever her friends had chosen to wander off to actually pay attention to the competition they would have at their gigs.

Giving them a knowing smile as she stepped away from the various instruments, the emerald haired woman walked off to observe the performance. It would be almost three hours later before the band could collect their earnings and call it a night, having been asked to play twice as many songs as the rest of the performances with encore after encore and autographs signing afterwards. In the rock music underground, _World Shaking_ was a force to be reckoned with. Where almost every other band had the same sound, this group defied the norm, enlisting a rebellious former concert pianist who had a knack for producing, they went from run of the mill rockers to daringly combining melodic metal and synths with hard rock.

Makoto, with a singing voice like a seductive shadow and bass playing to match; Little Hotaru who could bang the drums harder than anyone three times her size; the brilliant yet quiet Ami who would shred through her guitar strings by the end of any set played; and the unreachable Haruka, whose notes could drown out the world around you and leave you breathless, stripping away reality at its seams. _'This is the band of the future,'_ friend and fellow music enthusiast Elza Gray had hinted at numerous times whenever posting on an underground music news vlog. This was going to be the year that the band breached the surface, however. The largest battle of the bands competition was going to be broadcasted on every major music channel in at least 12 countries come January and tonight's performance had pushed the quartet past the qualifying stages and into the preliminaries in two months time.

"Great job, gang. Needless to say we owned tonight," Makoto grinned as she slapped the nearest band mate on the shoulder, sending poor Hotaru stumbling forward as she tried to catch herself.

"I think I'm gonna skip the celebrations and take the little one home guys. Its half past two and we still have practice later on today according to Sets," the blonde smiled faintly while shifting her gig bag to her left hand to fish for her keys. They exited the club to the sounds of their own laughter as Hotaru complained about being old enough to smoke if she wanted yet still being treated like a child. Parting ways for the night after their gear was loaded and the gig money divided, the group promised to see each other later on after catching some shuteye.

* * *

"It seems another band has made it into the battles this year." The speaker paused when she noticed her band mates drop what they were doing to shuffle over to view the laptop screen she sat behind.  
"What's their name?" the only male of the group asked casually.

"It says here they're named _World Shaking_, or something like that. Wonder what it means?" the lead singer, a blonde with long, loosely tied hair spoke up.

"They are also listed as an all-girl band and are marked as playing a similar style to ours."

"All-girl band? Mamoru don't look at them, they'll try to steal you away!" another blonde, a rather eccentric guitarist with two long pony tails, leapt at the computer and slammed the screen closed much to the irritation of her band mates.

"Usagi are you serious! Cut the crap and get off the damn laptop!" the fiery-tempered drummer reached for her. She might have succeeded in dragging the childish blonde off of the table had it not been for her slightly more mature counterpart restraining her in time to let Usagi's boyfriend and the group's bassist coax her away from the kitchen table and onto the couch while reassuring her that he wasn't going to leave her for a rival band. Michiru checked to make sure her laptop wasn't damaged before glancing back at Minako and Rei, who was just now starting to calm down enough to learn more about their future competition.

"Wow, it says they're local but just play different venues than us. That must be why we've never ran into each other before," Mina voiced to the band.

"That and we haven't been playing many gigs since we qualified for the battles two months ago."

"Quit your grumbling, Rei. You know we've been pushing hard to come up with some new material so we're not playing the same old songs come January."

Michiru listened to all this while watching the sites vlog that her friend Elza uploaded the a few hours ago. When the red head cut to some clips of the new band's performance, she found the rest of the world fading away. _My god, she's hypnotic. I've never heard anyone else play with such perfectly conveyed conviction._

"MICHIRU!" with her front man's loud outburst, the aqua-haired woman snapped back to the present, finally able to tear her attention away from the keyboardist of _World Shaking_. "Luna just called," Rei explained, glancing at what had had the violinist so captivated but only saw the video end and prepare to loop back to the beginning. "We have a gig next weekend, apparently its time to showcase our new stuff. It should help us gauge how the changes are gonna be received, I think."

Michiru could only nod absentmindedly as she got up with the rest of her friends to talk to their manager on speaker phone. As the members of _Deep Submerge_ assembled in the living room, the official music vlog of the Silver Millennium Battle of the Bands featuring Elza Gray began again.

* * *

"Well hello there, ladies and gents. It's time for another update on Sil-Mil's upcoming battles. Last night, in a stunning victory session down at The Cellar, a local venue for all of those unfamiliar with the place, we had _World Shaking_ cause an earthquake of epic proportions on the scene. Yours truly was at the scene of the crime to get some lovely footage of one the bands you absolutely HAVE to watch out for come next year.

"This group is headed by the lovely Makoto Kino, with a voice that has more depth than Earth's oceans and some bass playing to match. We also have the timid twins, though not biologically, Ami Mizuno and Hotaru Tomoe. Guitarist and drummer respectively, these little ladies have more bite than a starving shark when it comes to their instruments. I'm telling you folks, you won't believe what hit you when you see these girls play. Last but not least, though, we have a woman who's no mystery to the music scene in general but a complete anomaly when it comes to this particular genre. Haruka Tenoh, concert pianist turned deep-dark rocker, this girl has it all. I'm talking bone-chilling notes, mind-blowing synths and a vocal harmony that could sway the moon whenever she joins Makoto on their sets. Plus she's quite the looker and I have it from a reliable source that she's single ladies," this was punctuated with a wink as the footage from the night's performance flashed behind Elza.

"With a lineup like that, it's gonna be pretty damn hard to beat _World Shaking_ at Silver Millennium. But before you all attempt to oust me for being biased, I do have one more band to update you on that'll be at the battles. We just got early word not too long ago that _Deep Submerge_ will be playing a show next week and dare I leak that they have some new material to unleash on us undeserving fans? That's all I can give you though folks, don't miss the chance to catch both these great bands and with any luck, we should all be seeing DS and WS dominate in January.

"This is Elza Gray, signing out with your thunder from the underground report. Keep causing chaos, kitties."

With those parting words, the video began to loop again several more times until the laptop went into sleep mode.

* * *

**AN:** It's been a long while and I feel incredibly rusty at this. This is something I had jotted down at the exact same time as The Epic Tale but just put aside to come back to later. Apparently now _is_ later and I just had to do something with it. This'll be a much shorter fic then my other Sailor Moon one and apparently it was a gateway story to updating my other ones as well as posting one more new story. I don't expect them to be nearly as popular as TET but if you guys like 'em I'd appreciate the feedback or suggestions. Lastly, I've never written about all the senshi before so this will be new territory for me but I shall try to keep their personalities unaltered save for what fits the storyline.

Just as a little aside, here is the breakdown for each band (more or less)

**Deep Submerge (Melodic hard rock)  
**Michiru Kaioh(violinist)**  
**Usagi Tsukino (guitar)  
Mamoru Chiba (bassist)  
Rei Hino (drums)  
Minako Aino (singer)  
Chibiusa(fan/relative, Hotaru's friend)

**World Shaking (Synth/symphonic hard rock)**  
Haruka Tenoh (keyboard/synths)  
Hotaru Tomoe (drums)  
Ami Mizuno (guitarist)  
Makoto Kino (bassist/singer)

**Starlights (Traditional hard rock)**  
Seiya Kou  
Yaten Kou  
Taiki Kou  
Kakyuu (fan)

**Managers**  
Setsuna Meioh  
Luna  
Artemis


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Checking out the competition**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Sailor Moon or any of its characters and concepts. The plot is as original as material can be in this day and age.

"_This is Elza Gray, signing out with your thunder from the underground report. Keep causing chaos, kitties."_

"Was all of that really necessary, Elza?"

The woman in question looked up from her the phone, not quite sure what her blonde friend was referencing.

"Did you have to advertise my lack of relationship to everyone who watches that vlog of yours? And who exactly is your reliable source?" the husky timbre resonated with barely contained laughter.

"Ah, come on Haruka. It was all in good fun, I have a stage presence to maintain after all. And don't you worry your pretty little head about who my sources are." She winked before finishing off the last of her coffee. Since the battle of the bands announcement a few months ago, both women had been hard at work with their preparations for the event. Not getting the opportunity to see each other as often as they used to, the two took the time this morning to step out and catch up with one another.

"So…"

"So?"

"Are you going to Mad Hatter's tonight?"

"And why would I do that Miss Gray?" the blonde hummed while sipping her drink.

"Because…" the shorter woman twirled a strand of hair idly.

"Because why?"

"There may or may not be something there that I want you to see."

"And by some_thing_ you mean some_one_, don't you?" Haruka quirked and eyebrow skeptically.

"Maaaayyyybbbeeee," Elza smirked.

"Hmmm, I see." The blonde scrunched her face in mock concentration before answering, "In that case…I think I'll pass."

"WHAT!? No way Tenoh, you're coming tonight. End of story."

"My, so forceful, Elza."

"Wipe that smirk off your face," Elza mock-glared.

"So who is it you want me to see?"

Sighing in defeat, "If you _must_ know, _Deep Submerge_ is playing at MH's. It's been a while since they've performed and I thought it'd be a good idea for you and the girls to check them out. If you ask me, they're your only real competition for next year." She took a moment to see if the blonde would decline before adding, "That and the violinist _is_ pretty cute. I figure I could put in a good word for you if you end up liking what you see."

Not bothering to hide her chuckle, Haruka simply shook her head at her friend's boldness. "And you're on such good terms with Ms. Kaioh because…" she trailed off.

"I'll have you know that in my profession I meet a lot of interesting peop- wait, you know Michiru?"

"Wasn't I just asking you that? Besides, I believe I asked you first." she smirked challengingly.

"Well I asked you louder. How do you know about her? I would've heard through the underground if you and she had hooked up."

"Who said anything about hooking up?"

"Well how do you know her if you didn't sleep with her?"

Releasing a full blown guffaw at that, it took a minute for the blonde to recover enough to speak. "Last I checked, people at least attempt to know about a person before sleeping with them. And for the record, I haven't actually met her," after a pause she added, "or slept with her for that matter."

"Then…"

"She's a violinist, I used to be a classical pianist remember? I still know a few musicians outside of the rock scene, ya know."

"But you said you never met her." Elza responded, confusion evident in her voice.

"But I like her work. Listening to _Deep Submerge_ is what got me into this gig."

"Awe, so you're a fan?!" she all but squealed, "In that case, I'm definitely introducing the two of you. I can just picture it now, you guys would make such beautiful musical babies together!"

Haruka stared at her dumbfounded, "What does that even mean?"

"Nevermind that, it's settled. The show starts at 9:00. I'll see you there." Elza didn't even wait for a reply as she waved goodbye and rushed out of the small coffee shop. All her friend could do was chuckle and shake her head, _That girl's insane. _She sat a moment longer, taking the time to finish her coffee before rising to leave as well.

"Guess I'm going to a show tonight."

* * *

"Well ladies, two minutes 'til show time," the dark haired male smiled easily. "Is everyone ready for tonight?"

"When have we ever not been ready?" Minako grinned. By now, the entire band had already gone through their warm-up exercises and were just waiting for the band who went before them to finish up their set.

"I think we're all pretty confident with the new material by now, tonight shouldn't be a problem." Rei boasted confidently. The rest of the band agreed.

"What do you say we go out there and show this town what real music sounds like? _Deep Submerge_ is back and the Battle of the Bands is as good as ours."

Michiru laughed pleasantly at the antics of her band mates but silently agreed. Nothing was going to distract them from their goal, and with that thought in mind, she followed the rest of the group out onstage for their set.

* * *

"Haruka!" Elza waved, quickly grabbing the blonde's attention as she grabbed her drink from the bar. "You made it, I thought you were gonna end up missing them play."

Her friend merely shrugged in reply. "I was going to bring the rest of _World_ with me but Hotaru canc'd because she had plans with one of her friends and Ami wasn't feeling too well so Makoto ended up staying home to take care of her."

"When are those two gonna get together already?" Elza smiled while leading the blonde through the crowd to her usual spot in front of the stage.

"Who knows? Probably around the same time you end up settling down with someone," she joked. Elza brushed off her comment in favor of relaying a message to her usual cameraman as _Deep Submerge_ gracefully took the stage.

"The band's manager let me get a sneak peak at some of their new stuff, this crowd is going to lose their mind," the red head whispered while her blonde friend merely nodded.

The crowd soon fell silent as the lights dimmed and the band made ready to play. The shuddering cry of a lone violin was the first to break the near-silence. It started out slow and sorrowful, definitely not something the crowd was expecting. She gripped their hearts as subtly as she gripped her violin strings, gradually increasing speed until suddenly stopping, her last note left unfinished. With a playful smile and a glance at the rest of the band, she tore into her music with a new fervor at the same time as the rest of_ Deep Submerge_. She played with such precision and speed, matched by the drums and guitar while the bass added depth to the sound, that the crowd was already in a frenzy by the time Minako's melodic voice filtered from the stage.

Haruka stood dumbfounded, they were playing on a whole new level from what they had been before. The members of the band had already complimented each other well with their earlier material, but this was an evolution of a far greater magnitude.

"Incredible, aren't they?!" she heard Elza shout beside her.

It took her a minute to gather her wits and respond, but when she did, it was with only one word. "Breathtaking."

Haruka didn't notice her friend's smirk as she watched her for her eyes would be locked onto _Deep Submerge's_ violinist for the remainder of their set.

* * *

**AN:** Inspiration for DS's music (this performance at least) were from Eluveitie, Minako's vocals were likened to those in A Rose for Epona and the rest of the band's sound would be something along the lines of Havoc (ok, yeah Havoc minus the vocals and flutes was definitely what I had in mind for this performance). Great band and great songs to serve as a muse as I'm coming off of my electronic kick and getting back into more instrumental based music again.

Aaannnnndddddddddd this is where I go back to finishing up that chapter on TET.


End file.
